Andersonh1's Abbreviated List of Alleged Southern Complaints against the Union Army

Bledsoe's and Hamblin's Landings, Arkansas

https://books.google.com/books?id=B...e&q=Hamblin Arkansas burned civil war&f=false

The USS Louisville and the troop transport Meteor capture Bledsoe's Landing and Hamblin's Landing, Arkansas, burning both towns in retaliation for guerilla attacks on vessels.


http://www.navyandmarine.org/NMLHA_Maps/CW_Guidebook.htm

Lt Cdr Meade (USS Louisville) escorts steamer Meteor, from which Army troops land at and burn Bledsoe’s Landing and Hamblin's Landing, AR in reprisal for attacks by Confederate guerrillas on mail steamer Gladiator on 19 October.
 
Bledsoe's and Hamblin's Landings, Arkansas

https://books.google.com/books?id=BZ3nGcFySHUC&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq=Hamblin+Arkansas+burned+civil+war&source=bl&ots=tLrNIOnW0E&sig=yq-7L49hvnXKOMUA6c4NmYk9epU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPue23zfTTAhWBYyYKHXGKBWMQ6AEIPDAE#v=onepage&q=Hamblin Arkansas burned civil war&f=false

The USS Louisville and the troop transport Meteor capture Bledsoe's Landing and Hamblin's Landing, Arkansas, burning both towns in retaliation for guerilla attacks on vessels.


http://www.navyandmarine.org/NMLHA_Maps/CW_Guidebook.htm

Lt Cdr Meade (USS Louisville) escorts steamer Meteor, from which Army troops land at and burn Bledsoe’s Landing and Hamblin's Landing, AR in reprisal for attacks by Confederate guerrillas on mail steamer Gladiator on 19 October.

Lieber code on retaliation and reprisal
Please discuss.
Art. 28.

Retaliation will, therefore, never be resorted to as a measure of mere revenge, but only as a means of protective retribution, and moreover, cautiously and unavoidably; that is to say, retaliation shall only be resorted to after careful inquiry into the real occurrence, and the character of the misdeeds that may demand retribution.

Unjust or inconsiderate retaliation removes the belligerents farther and farther from the mitigating rules of regular war, and by rapid steps leads them nearer to the internecine wars of savages.
 
Washington NC burned.

https://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker=Burning+Of+Washington&cnty=Beaufort

Washington remained under federal control until April 26, 1864 (the present marker states incorrectly that the Confederates held Washington from March until November), when, as a result of the Confederate victory at Plymouth, Brigadier General Edward Harland was ordered to withdraw from the town. For four days the evacuating troops pillaged Washington, destroying what they could not carry. As the final detachments were preparing to leave Washington on April 30, a fire started in the riverfront warehouse district, spreading quickly, until about one half of the city was in ashes.

General Robert F. Hoke entered Washington finding “a ruined city…a sad scene—mostly…chimneys and Heaps of ashes to mark the place where Fine Houses once stood, and the Beautiful trees, which shaded the side walks, Burnt, some all most to a coal.” Hoke left the 6th North Carolina to defend Washington and to assist its citizens. A reversal of fortune would come in November 1864. Following the Union’s recapture of Plymouth, Washington and the whole sound region, again fell under federal control.


There is a NC historic marker commemorating the burning of the town.
 
Shenandoah Valley, devastated, reported October 1, 1864 by Sheridan. Washington College was sacked and burned during this campaign.

As a former resident of Lexington Va, home of Washington College, let me clarify this notation.

A union army of some 12,000-15,000 under Gen. David Hunter occupied Lexington in 1864. They set fire to the main building of the Virginia Military Institute and to the home of Virginia Gov. Lechter, but they did not burn the town or engage in more widespread destruction. A large force of federals was quartered on the campus of Washington College (now Washington & Lee University) and they vandalized the place and stole College property. But Washington College was not burned, and the historic ante-bellum structures still stand today as the centerpiece of the modern University.

The Union atrocities of Sheridan's Valley Campaign are real enough without inventing new ones, or exaggerating the seriousness of well-documented operations that were only incidental to Sheridan's campaign. .
 
It seems to me that one persons atrocity is another's militarily justifiable operation or legally supportable action. Each will see the same incident in accordance with their own beliefs. What I learned in over four years in war zones is anything can and will happen when civil law is abandoned for the power of the gun.
Atrocity is a harsh word uttered by those that feel aggrieved by the actions of those with the power of the gun. But war gives that power and protestations a century and a half later seems silly.
 
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It seems to me that one persons atrocityis another's militarily justifiable operation or legally supportable action. Each will see the same incident in accordance with their own beliefs. What I learned in over four years in war zones is anything can and will happen when civil law is abandoned for the power of the gun.
Atrocity is a harsh word uttered by those that feel aggrieved by the actions of those with the power of the gun. But war gives that power and protestations a century and a half later seem silly.
IMHO military law is the power of the gun, with limited restraints.
 
The Union atrocities of Sheridan's Valley Campaign are real enough without inventing new ones, or exaggerating the seriousness of well-documented operations that were only incidental to Sheridan's campaign. .
Good point. Yankee advocates have a habit of making rhetorical mincemeat out of mere outrage.
 
Little Washington was the childhood home of my wife's grandmother. While some of the details of the Union evacuation of the town are in dispute, its undeniably true the Yankees set fire to the place and most of the town was destroyed.
 
Good point. Yankee advocates have a habit of making rhetorical mincemeat out of mere outrage.

I'm not sure if I get you? Sarcasm?

VMI provided many, many officers to the Confederate armies and even sent its teenaged cadets out to fight. It was a totally legitimate military target.

The Gov.'s house was mere vandalism, admittedly.
 
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Mistreatment of prisoners can be an atrocity, and probably was in 1864.
However, early in the war, most prisoners were exchanged.
The Confederate army that surrendered at Vicksburg was allowed to stay in the South. Some soldiers went home and others went home via the parole camps.
Sort of the opposite of atrocities.
 
It seems to me that one persons atrocity is another's militarily justifiable operation or legally supportable action. Each will see the same incident in accordance with their own beliefs. What I learned in over four years in war zones is anything can and will happen when civil law is abandoned for the power of the gun.
Atrocity is a harsh word uttered by those that feel aggrieved by the actions of those with the power of the gun. But war gives that power and protestations a century and a half later seem silly.

I second this. War is an atrocity, almost by definition.
 
Just before the Civil War ended, General Dick Ewell was captured by U.S. forces and it is recorded that he was overheard saying the General Lee should surrender, because what was occurring was no longer warfare.
General Grant acted in accordance with those words, whether in fact they were actually spoken.
A few days later, when Sheridan and Custer wanted to finish the surrender through conquest, Grant accomplished the surrender.
This is was the best chance to end the outrages of the war, and at least the generals on both sides took that opportunity.
 
All we need is scantly clad cheer leaders leading the cheer.

Although to be fair, since a number of people have brought it up, I don't think I used the word "atrocities". So they're not really responding to me when atrocities are discussed, even though it's in the thread title.
 
Chambersburg was not an outrage. And it wasn't an atrocity.
Was it a deliberate act of revenge targeting the reputation of Thaddeus Stevens, a leading proponent of emancipation?
Probably.
And the same thing happened in Columbia, SC.

It didn't target Stevens, but it is an example of retaliation. And as I mentioned on another thread Pennsylvanians under Sheridan as a result had few compunctions about burning barns in the Shenandoah Valley. What goes around comes around and around on the merry-go-round. One retaliation leads to another.
 
Sheridan's valley campaign was deliberate and was ordered by Ulysses Grant.
The effort to starve Richmond and the AofNV was deliberate.
 
Here we go again with Chambersburg as if it was the worst thing ever... so here's a partial list of towns burned by the Union Army. Maybe I'll start a thread and post details. And of course, none of this covers homes and farms and plantations that were looted and burned. I've posted a few details, but every incident has a story or outrage associated with it. Feel free to look them up.

Osceola, Missouri, burned to the ground, September 24, 1861 - The town of 3,000 people was plundered and burned to the ground, 200 slaves were freed and nine local citizens were executed
Platte City - December 16, 1861 - "Colonel W. James Morgan marches from St. Joseph to Platte City. Once there, Morgan burns the city and takes three prisoners -- all furloughed or discharged Confederate soldiers. Morgan leads the prisoners to Bee Creek, where one is shot and a second is bayonetted, while the third is released. "
Dayton, Missouri, burned, January 1 to 3, 1862
Columbus, Missouri, burned, reported on January 13, 1862
Bentonville, Arkansas, partly burned, February 23, 1862 - a Federal search party set fire to the town after finding a dead Union soldier, burning most of it to the ground
Winton, North Carolina, burned, reported on February 21, 1862 - first NC town burned by the Union, and completely burned to the ground
Bledsoe's Landing, Arkansas, burned, October 21, 1862
Hamblin's, Arkansas, burned, October 21, 1862
Donaldsonville, Louisiana, partly burned, August 10, 1862
Athens, Alabama, partly burned, August 30, 1862
Randolph, Tennessee, burned, September 26, 1862
Elm Grove and Hopefield, Arkansas, burned, October 18, 1862
Fredericksburg December 11–15, 1862 - town not destroyed, but the Union army threw shells into a town full of civilians
Napoleon, Arkansas, partly burned, January 17, 1863
Mound City, Arkansas, partly burned, January 13, 1863
Hopefield, Arkansas, burned, February 21, 1863 - "Captain Lemon allowed residents one hour to remove personal items, and the men then burned every house in the village."
Eunice, Arkansas, burned, June 14, 1863
Gaines Landing, Arkansas, burned, June 15, 1863
Bluffton, South Carolina, burned, reported June 6, 1863 - "
Union troops, about 1,000 strong, crossed Calibogue Sound and eased up the May River in the pre-dawn fog, surprising ineffective pickets and having their way in an unoccupied village. Rebel troops put up a bit of a fight, but gunboats blasted away as two-thirds of the town was burned in less than four hours. After the Yankees looted furniture and left, about two-thirds of the town's 60 homes were destroyed."
Sibley, Missouri, burned June 28, 1863
Hernando, Mississippi, partly burned, April 21, 1863
Austin, Mississippi, burned, May 24, 1863 - "On May 24, a detachment of Union marines landed near Austin. They quickly marched to the town, ordered all of the townpeople out and burned down the town."
Columbus, Tennessee, burned, reported February 10, 1864
Meridian, Mississippi, destroyed, February 3 to March 6, 1864 (burned multiple times)
Washington, North Carolina, sacked and burned, April 20, 1864
Hallowell's Landing, Alabama, burned, reported May 14, 1864
Newtown, Virginia, May 30, 1864
Rome, Georgia, partly burned, November 11, 1864 - "Union soldiers were told to burn buildings the Confederacy could use in its war effort: railroad depots, storehouses, mills, foundries, factories and bridges. Despite orders to respect private property, some soldiers had their own idea. They ran through the city bearing firebrands, setting fire to what George M. Battey Jr. called harmless places."
Atlanta, Georgia, burned, November 15, 1864
Camden Point, Missouri, burned, July 14, 1864 -
Kendal's Grist-Mill, Arkansas, burned, September 3, 1864
Shenandoah Valley, devastated, reported October 1, 1864 by Sheridan. Washington College was sacked and burned during this campaign.
Griswoldville, Georgia, burned, November 21, 1864
Somerville, Alabama, burned, January 17, 1865
McPhersonville, South Carolina, burned, January 30, 1865
Barnwell, South Carolina, burned, reported February 9, 1865
Columbia, South Carolina, burned, reported February 17, 1865
Winnsborough, South Carolina, pillaged and partly burned, February 21, 1865
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, burned, April 4, 1865

A mere list is useless because it gives no context and no details.
 
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